From Angela MacDonald, Second Permanent Secretary
25 June 2026
The recovery taskforce continues to work alongside the scheme administrator Capita, and in this update, I’d like to share the progress made across a number of areas. I’m aware that there has been recent speculation about the overall outcome and position of the recovery work on Tuesday 30 June, and that my updates are important to you in providing the facts about the latest position. Therefore, I will issue an additional taskforce update on Thursday 2 July. It is important to note that the taskforce’s work on the effective delivery of the Scheme does not stop at the end of June, and the Cabinet Office team remains totally committed to ensuring all members receive what they are entitled to from the Scheme.
Quotations
Since my last update, a large volume of quotations have been issued to members, and at the time of writing this update, there are about 6,500 quotations outstanding for past retirement dates. I know that these are not being issued in retirement date order, and colleagues will remember that I have advised before that it's important that we are confident that the data is correct so some cases are taking longer as we seek further information from employers. Quotations are being issued at a significant rate, and about half of the outstanding quotations are for partial retirement cases, and I am expecting those to be cleared in the next week or so. For any remaining quotations and future retirements, quotations will of course continue to be processed beyond the end of June.
Quotations are issued 2nd Class via Royal Mail, so while I will report on the numbers of quotations issued, it will definitely take some days for those to land on doorsteps. Royal Mail aims to deliver 2nd Class mail within three weekdays. If you have not received your quote by Tuesday 30 June, please do not contact Capita. Material volumes will continue to be issued every day.
There will always be a number of complex cases which require further clarification of data. Whilst we expect the volume of people in this position by the end of June to be relatively small overall, I am aware that every single delayed quotation has a significant impact. We intend to take some additional action to tackle these cases, and I will outline this next week, including how members will be contacted to move cases forward. I know you may understandably seek to find out from Capita in the next week whether your quotation is impacted by this. Please do not call the Contact Centre as they will not have this information, full details follow next week.
Whether you have your quote or are waiting for it, please do read the FAQs included in the quotation pack or on the Quotes Hub to answer any questions you may have. It is critical that you make the right choice for you when taking your pension, and once you have made those choices, they can’t be changed.
Pension payments
Capita currently has 377 retirement cases for members who returned their completed paperwork prior to 30 May, that are still to be put into payment and Capita is aiming to complete these by the end of June.
There are over 1,000 members who requested a retirement date prior to 30 May, where Capita has already requested additional information in order to pay these benefits. If this is you, please let Capita have the information requested so your pension can be put into payment during July. If you have questions or queries on your quotation then again, please raise this with Capita, if you have not already done so.
Going forward, completed quotation paperwork returned from next week can expect to be processed within 10 working days. This means that lump sum payments (if eligible) could be made in July with the first pension payments following in August/September with arrears as appropriate.
Pension arrears
As pensions are being put into payment, finalisation letters are issued to explain what will be paid. I am aware that these are being sent via 2nd Class post and are typically arriving a number of days after payments are landing in bank accounts. If you receive an amount of money that you don't recognise, please wait to receive the finalisation statement before raising a query with Capita, and if you do need to contact Capita use the secure mailbox in your online account.
If you receive several months of pension arrears, there may be tax implications. This factsheet in the Recovery Plan Updates section of the Civil Service Pensions website has been provided by HMRC colleagues specifically to help members with pension arrears, and includes an example letter should you need to write to HMRC. The factsheet also contains important information about what will happen if the pension arrears move you into a higher tax band and that would have been avoided if the payments were correctly applied to a previous tax year.
Returning your quote successfully
I have been made aware of some confusion regarding Capita’s ID checking requirements, and it’s clear we need to do more to communicate the purpose and process. Capita will update the quotations hub on the member portal with more details and I will give you more information about this next week. When returning the quote claim forms please note they can be sent via post or the secure member portal. Please note that there is a 10MB file limit when returning your quotes via the pension portal. Photographs of quote pages are more likely to take you over the 10MB limit, so please save and upload your documents into a PDF or JPEG format. If your returned quote was over the limit, you will have received an error message asking you to try again. Members successfully submitting their quote via the pension portal will receive an acknowledgement and reference number.
Bereavements
There are currently 3,387 cases where Capita are waiting for families to return information to enable pensions to be put into payment. The cases were followed up during May. If any family is not yet able to return their paperwork and needs assistance, please call Capita.
Families who are yet to receive quotations and paperwork are a significant area of focus for Capita and I will report next week what the end of June position is and how long it will take to clear the remaining work in this area.
Death in Service and Ill Health Retirement cases.
Capita and the recovery team are tracking all older cases individually; they require an element of hypercare, so bear with us a little longer so we can progress your case.
Timescales to expect if you are wanting to retire
I am sure that some members on the cusp of retirement have been watching and waiting patiently, hoping service levels improve before they submit their request for a quotation. Despite the service issues, Capita has continued to receive a significant volume of future dated retirement requests throughout the last 6 months and those future dated cases will now start to be processed.
If you have not yet submitted a request, whether you are planning to take partial retirement or full retirement, going forward, please allow four months for the whole process. Capita will not process quotations requests which are for dates beyond a 4-month timescale. Capita is now in a position where members requesting a quote in July for a retirement date 4 months away should expect to retire and receive the correct pension payment on time.
2015 Remedy (McCloud)
Members who are retiring now and are impacted by the 2015 Remedy are provided with information about their remedy options within their quotation pack. The option is to take benefits for the remedy period (from 1 April 2015 to 31 March 2022) from the legacy scheme or Alpha. Figures for both options will be outlined in your pack; make sure you read the options carefully, as once you have made the decision; it cannot be changed. You may also find the 2015 Remedy (McCloud) section on the Civil Service Pensions website useful. Members impacted by the Remedy only make this decision at retirement.
There remains a significant number of remedy affected members whose pensions are already in payment and have yet to receive further information about the 2015 Remedy (McCloud). We know that you have been waiting a long time and I am highlighting this to ensure that you know we still have your case and know it needs to be worked. I'm afraid it will be some months yet before we are able to make progress, and we are aware of the statutory deadlines. More information will be made available in September.
Transfers in, Transfers out and Divorce letters
Some pension services linked to transfer values are temporarily paused while calculation factors are being updated. This is due to a change in the Superannuation Contributions Adjusted for Past Experience (SCAPE) discount rate announced by HM Treasury on 19 May. Therefore, Capita is unable to provide cash equivalent transfer values (CETVs) or process transfer requests that rely on these calculations. Any requests received will be held and processed once the new factors are available.
Capita will be writing out to approximately 4,000 members from 6 July, giving you an update on your case. Please be reassured that we will make the necessary policy considerations to ensure that you do not lose out as a result of this delay.
Registering for the portal
A large number of calls to the contact centre are about the member portal and how to register. Watch this video to understand the registration process: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9b6lMvvInhU.
Modeller
Unfortunately, limited progress has been on releasing the new retirement modeller. I know this will be disappointing news as there is currently no interactive tool for members to project their pension or lump sum estimates. I have no timescale for when this will be available.
As mentioned at the beginning of this update, I shall issue a further taskforce update next Thursday (2 July) outlining Capita’s end of June position.
Angela MacDonald
Second Permanent Secretary, HMRC
